Tech startup Element One this month launched a product that transforms methanol and water into hydrogen, paving its way to enter markets in the developing world. Its “Pegasus hydrogen generator” could provide fuel for hydrogen cells that power rapidly expanding telecommunication networks.

The Port of Bandon has assumed control of a seafood processing plant and market building from Clackamas-based Pacific Seafood Group (PSG) after two years of tense negotiations in which the port charged that PSG broke a 1982 lease on the 14,000-square-foot “blue building,” located on the shores of the Coquille River just as it spills into the Pacific.

The cost of workers’ compensation insurance for most Oregon employers will remain flat in 2011, according to the Department of Consumer and Business Services, which sets those rates for every industry in the state.

When developer Richard Singer was 3 years old, he and his two siblings received a building on NW 23rd Avenue as a gift from their grandfather, Harry Zell, one of the two brothers for whom the now-closed Zell Bros. Jewelers was named.

BY LINDA BAKER | OB EDITOR

At Oregon State University, a 21st century version of the bad dream — nuclear terrorism — is alive and well. This winter, the Department of Nuclear Physics and Radiation Health Physics created a new interdisciplinary graduate emphasis in nuclear forensics, a Sherlock Holmes-sounding program that aims to identify how and where confiscated nuclear and radiological materials were created.

BY AMY MILSHTEIN | OB CONTRIBUTOR

BY LINDA BAKER

Founded 12 years ago, Keen Inc. likes to push the envelope, starting with the debut of the “Newport” closed toe sandal in 2003. Since then, the company has opened a factory on Swan Island and a sleek new headquarters in the Pearl District. The brand’s newest offering, UNEEK, is a sandal made from two woven cords and not much more.

Brand Stories

BY ERIN J. BERNARD

BY SOPHIA BENNETT

Since 1932 Tidewater Transportation & Terminals (operating as Tidewater Barge Lines and Tidewater Terminal Company) has operated a multicommodity transportation and terminal company based in Vancouver, Washington. The friendly expression on the company’s shipping containers reflects the attitude of about 330 safety and community-conscious employees but belies how complicated the barge business really is.

BY SOPHIA BENNETT

The Port of The Dalles has run marine facilities since the 1930s, but they are part of a larger mission to strengthen the local economy. They focus on regional economic development with a strong bent toward adding good-paying jobs in high tech, manufacturing and other industries.